Reason: Season 5 picked up three weeks after Tig (Kim Coates) killed the daughter of gangster Damon Pope (Harold Perrineau) upon hearing the lie that Clay (Ron Perlman) was shot by the Niners gang — as opposed to Opie (Ryan Hurst), who’d learned that Clay had killed his father. Pope had told the Niners not to respond because the police would look right at him. Plus, the Galindo cartel had phoned Pope asking him to sit down with new SAMCRO president Jax (Charlie Hunnam) to see if the club could make amends.

Result: Niner president Laroy (Tory Kittles) made his own call to hit a SAMCRO truck and lost a man in the process. Pope’s righthand guy, August Marks (Billy Brown), killed and chopped up Laroy offscreen, revealing his remains to his reluctant successor Darnell (BJ Britt). At a meet-up with SAMCRO, Darnell followed Marks’s order to kill Jax — but the gun Marks had given him was empty. Marks shot Darnell in the head in front of Jax and said Pope would be in touch.

Reverberations: Marks told Darnell’s even more reluctant replacement Tyler (Mo McRae) to tell the Niners the beef with the Sons was done. Jax already got the message meant for him: ”This is Pope lettin’ us know he’s the one who decides who lives and dies.”

*Click here to start from the beginning of SOA‘s death tally, here for a glimpse of season 2’s carnage, here to fast track to season 3, or here to remember who was lost in season 4.

FX

Eye for an Eye

”Sovereign” (season 5, episode 1)

RIP: Dawn Trager

Death by: Fire

Reason: Tig got a call saying an Oakland detective (Derek Anthony) had picked up his daughter Dawn (Rachel Miner) for a DUI, but since the cop was a brother-in-law of one of the Grim Bastards, SAMCRO’s ally, he wouldn’t charge her if Tig came to collect her himself.

Result: When Tig got to the location, he found Dawn alive in a pit with the bodies of Laroy and Darnell. Pope had Tig chained close enough to watch gasoline be poured on her — but far enough away that he could only wail powerlessly. Tig begged Pope to kill him instead. ”Know my pain, Mr. Trager,” Pope said. Then, he tossed in the cigar he’d been smoking to burn Dawn alive. Watching the flames engulf her was horrifying, but hearing her scream, ”Daddy!” for the last time earned this death a spot in our list of the most disturbing TV scenes ever.

Reverberations: See next slide.

FX

Father's Rage

”Sovereign” (season 5, episode 1)

RIP: Crooked detective; Cleaner

Death by: Strangulation; Bullets

Reason: Pope informed Tig that he and other members of SAMCRO had been identified in the killing of his daughter and the highway shootout initiated by the Niners. He said the detective would take him to County, and he threatened to kill Tig’s other daughter, Fawn, if he spoke of Dawn’s murder.

Result: After Pope and Marks left the scene, the detective called in his cleaner (Bryan Rasmussen). Tig strangled the detective with his chains and shot the cleaner in the pit.

Reverberations: Retired chief Unser (Dayton Callie) got word that warrants had been issued for Tig, Jax, and Chibs (Tommy Flanagan) after witnesses surfaced to ID them. The guys guessed that Pope wanted them in jail so they could be offed and it wouldn’t blow back on him. To buy them time until their Galindo cartel contacts could secure them protection inside, Gemma (Katey Sagal) took the guys to Diosa, the brothel run by her new lover Nero (Jimmy Smits), a former OG turned ”companionator.” Before Jax and the guys turned themselves in, he and Tara (Maggie Siff) got married there (”Hey, I’m all about the fairytale, baby”).

FX

Opie Got This

”Laying Pipe” (season 5, episode 3)

RIP: Opie

Death by: Beating

Reason: Opie had walked away from SAMCRO after shooting Clay, but Clay told him not to let his hatred for him keep him from being there for Jax now that it was their time at the head of the table. Clay also told him Jax and the guys were turning themselves in and hadn’t secured protection yet. Opie asked his estranged second wife Lyla (Winter Ave Zoli) to watch his kids while he went out of town for a while. He told her she hadn’t been just a distraction after his first wife’s murder, but he wasn’t sure if he loved anything anymore. When Sheriff Eli Roosevelt (Rockmond Dunbar) came to arrest Jax, Chibs, and Tig, Opie arrived and picked a fight with the cops to land himself in the paddywagon, too. ”He’s stayin’ close,” Gemma told Tara. (It’s okay if you’re crying already.)

Result: Pope arranged a sitdown with Jax in jail. Galindo had come through with protection, which told Pope that SAMCRO was too smart and too profitable to kill. His new proposal: He’d take 50 percent of the club’s cocaine-muling profits, Tig would stay in prison for the rest of his life and suffer, and one Son would die inside. Once that was done, the witnesses would recant. Only Opie was with Jax when a guard told him to pick the Son that would go to ”the box” and fight to his death. Jax told Opie he had no idea how to keep everyone alive — as well as the truth about Galindo’s Romeo (Danny Trejo) and Luis (Benito Martinez) being CIA, forcing him to keep Clay alive so the Irish would deal the cartel big guns, and holding the RICO case over the club. When it was time for Jax to pick the Son, Opie started another fight so the guards took him. ”I got this,” Opie told Jax, who wailed behind a glass window as he watched Opie meet his end at the hand of four inmates.

Reverberations: Jax told Pope that to get the club to sign off on the deal giving him 50 percent of their profits, he’d need Tig outside. Knowing Jax saved his life, Tig would always vote the way Jax told him to. Once Jax was done using Tig, he’d let Pope kill him. Pope was impressed: Finding the hidden advantage in unfortunate circumstances and using pain to take it to next level are things that turn players into kings, he said.

FX

Home Invasion

”Orca Shrugged” (season 5, episode 5)

RIP: Rita Roosevelt

Death by: Bullets

Reason: Unser would be the first to guess that a series of break-ins targeting those close to SAMCRO wasn’t the work of the Niners or Pope but that of Clay, who wanted to turn the citizens of Charming against Jax by making them think he couldn’t keep crime as low as Clay had. We’d later learn he promised three new nomad transfers to SAMCRO — Frankie Diamonds (Chuck Zito), Greg the Peg (Kurt Yaeger), and GoGo (Chris Browning) — a cut of his action once their home invasions got him back in the president’s chair.

Result: Clay and Gemma were at the police station confirming stolen goods found in the apartment of an East Dub crew member weren’t theirs when the gang members got in a fight with the cops, which was enough to send them to County. Eli’s seven-weeks pregnant wife, Rita (Merle Dandridge), had been at the station visiting her husband. Knowing the East Dubs were in Pope’s jurisdiction, Clay later sent his trio to break into her home and scare her. Only she fought back, scratching GoGo on the neck before she was shot in the stomach. She was pronounced dead in episode 6, ”Small World.”

Reverberations: Unser told Clay about Rita clawing back, so there could be DNA evidence. Eli ran Jax, Chibs, and Bobby (Mark Boone Junior) off the road and threatened to crush the club, which he blamed for whatever situation led to Rita’s death. Jax told Eli that Pope assured him he wasn’t behind the home invasions. Jax wanted to work with Eli to find out who was.

FX

Twisted Sister

”Small World” (season 5, episode 6)

RIP: Crazy Carla

Death by: Bullets

Reason: Carla (Wanda De Jesus), who worked with Nero at Diosa, had never warmed to Gemma. Her jealousy built until she broke into Gemma’s house and lead Gemma to her bedroom at gunpoint. When Nero arrived, she demanded that her ”sweet brother” get in bed with Gemma, who was ordered to service him. Nero refused and told Carla to shoot him.

Result: ”I’m sorry. I just wanted to go out watching you do your thing,” Carla told Nero. Then she shot herself in the head. Turns out, she was Nero?s half-sister, who helped him turn legit, and she was in love with him. Seeing him with Gemma stirred everything up, and she’d stopped taking her meds. Gemma had to call Clay to get rid of the body.

Reverberations: Clay was at Gemma’s home alone when Nero stopped by later to check on her. Clay asked if this thing between Nero and Gemma was going anywhere. Nero, who’d gotten away from the lifestyle that required body bags, said he honestly didn?t know.

FX

Jax Got This

”Small World” (season 5, episode 6)

RIP: Sergeant Macky and his unfortunate wife

Death by: Bullets; Beating

Reason: When Pope couldn’t provide intel on Jax’s home invasion problem, he had Marks give Jax the name and home address of the sergeant (Jack Conley) who helped orchestrate Opie?s death in jail. Jax, Chibs, Bobby, and Tig were expecting him to be alone, but his wife was also home.

Result: Tig and Bobby subdued her and Jax and Chibs chased after the sergeant, who’d bolted. Tig then shot the wife in the head. Jax told Tig to find a pipe, but he couldn’t. He returned with a glitter globe. ”I got this,” Jax said, looking at Chibs, who knew those were Opie’s last words. Jax wound up the globe, and he, Chibs, and Tig started circling the sergeant as ”It’s a Small World” played. Jax struck him with the globe hard on the back of the head. And he hit him another eight times, until Chibs finally stopped him.

Reverberations: We began to see Opie’s brutal death bring out a new violence in Jax.

FX

Two out of Three Ain't Bad

”Toad’s Wild Ride” (season 5, episode 7)

RIP: Greg the Peg and GoGo

Death by: Bullets

Reason: Greg the Peg told Clay that Frankie Diamonds and GoGo were talking about killing Unser, who, along with Jax, suspected they were responsible for the Clay-ordered home invasions. Clay told Greg to have them all meet at Unser’s Airstream: Clay would arrive first, make sure Unser’s weapons were out of reach, and they’d break in and kill him.

Result: Clay had clueless, uneasy Juice (Theo Rossi) serving as lookout when he went to see Unser. Juice called to tell him the nomads had arrived, and Clay asked Unser if his gun was loaded. When GoGo and Greg entered, Unser shot one and Clay the other. Clay insisted it wasn’t him planning the break-ins or he would have let them blow Unser’s head off. Unser agreed to keep Clay out of the mix when the cops came. ”Watch your back, Wayne, there’s still one of ’em out there,” Clay said. ”Yeah, I’m watchin’,” Unser answered.

Reverberations: We saw Frankie watching the cops at the crime scene, so he knew he was a wanted man. Hearing that Unser had spotted the scratches on GoGo’s neck, and that GoGo and Greg were dead, Jax paid Clay a visit: He said they’d find Frankie, get the truth, and take it to the table — then let SAMCRO decide who lives and who dies.

FX

Road Warrior

”Toad’s Wild Ride” (season 5, episode 7)

RIP: Charles Turner

Death by: Bullets

Reason: As Jax rode with Chibs, a van pulled up beside them and opened fire. Jax recovered from being thrown from his bike to return fire and hit one of the shooters multiple times. When Chibs pulled off the man’s mask, we saw the gunman was black. The other shooter got away.

Result: Jax was to meet Tara at the cabin, so they took the body there. In the next episode, ”Ablation,” Jax cut off the man’s hands — one would go to Unser to identify and the other to Pope. If Pope gave them a false name, it’d prove he was behind the home invasions as Clay kept insisting.

Reverberations: That same night, Tara had asked Gemma to watch the boys. Not wanting to miss the chance to spend time with her grandkids, Gemma drove them while she high on marijuana. She wrecked the car. Rather than tell Jax and Tara the truth, Gemma went along with Clay’s suggestion that she say a van driven by a black man had run her off the road as well. Unser and Pope both identified the fallen shooter as Charles Turner, a man with no ties to Pope. Pope gave the address of Turner’s accomplice, Ray (Antonio D. Charity)?

FX

Truth or Lies

”Ablation” (season 5, episode 8)

RIP: Ray

Death by: Bullets, followed by a fall

Reason: Jax tracked down Ray and chased him to a rooftop. Ray said he was just helping his brother-in-law, Charles Turner, who’d been hired by an old friend from Chino, Frankie Diamonds. Jax wanted to know why they’d gone after his family — Ray said they hadn’t.

Result: Jax told Ray to ”come here” and put his arm around him. Ray thought he’d live, but Jax shot him three times in the gut. Ray sat down on the ledge, died, and fell backwards. Later, Frankie Diamonds took Lyla and Nero hostage asking Jax for $200,000. The club was tapped, so Nero offered him cash and watches. Frankie shot Lyla in the leg and took Chibs hostage for his escape. He was supposed to kill Chibs, but he couldn’t do it. Instead, he pistol-whipped him on the side of the road.

Reverberations: Gemma admitted that she’d been driving the boys high after Jax had figured it out. Tara told her she’d never get near the kids again. The DNA under Rita’s nails was inconclusive. Roosevelt told Jax he wanted Frankie Diamonds and anyone else responsible for the death of Rita and their unborn child. In exchange, Roosevelt said he’d give Jax the rat at his table who’d helped the Feds build their RICO case in season 4. Jax then made Gemma an offer: The only way she’d get access to his family again is if she helped get proof that Clay was behind the home invasions. He told her to sleep with Clay again, make him feel like a king, and the dirty secrets would start to flow again just like they always did.

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Frankie Goes Boom

”Andare Pescare” (season 5, episode 9)

RIP: Frankie Diamonds

Death by: Bullets

Reason: Jax wanted to find Frankie first so he could keep him alive and get him to Eli; Clay wanted to find him and kill him before he had a chance to talk to the club. Clay had already bonded with Juice over shared secrets, so when he needed to split from the pack to scout out intel he’d received separately on Frankie’s whereabouts from Italian Leo Pirelli (Peter Onorati), he took Juice with him.

Result: Jax lied and told Leo that Frankie stole $500,000 instead of the $150,000 that Frankie had offered Leo to help him escape. Leo was happy to lead Jax to Frankie once Jax said Leo could keep the money. Hearing SAMCRO was on its way, Frankie shot and killed the man Pirelli had watching him. Clay and Juice showed up first, and Frankie told Juice the truth — the nomads had stolen Clay’s safe and given him back all his legal documents. Before Clay could kill him, Jax and Pirelli arrived. Seeing his man had been murdered, Pirelli shot Frankie.

Reverberations: Jax later met Eli and showed him Frankie’s dead body. Eli didn’t want to be responsible for another death, so he wasn’t going to name the rat. Jax had already deduced it was Juice. Rather than spook their alliances by having word get out that SAMCRO had a rat, Jax told Chibs and Bobby they shouldn’t take the news to the table now. Instead, in the next episode, ”Crucifixed,” Jax told Juice he could earn a pardon by doing everything he told him to, which, after hearing from Juice what Frankie said about Clay’s legal documents, involved finding those papers to prove Frankie’s story was true.

FX

Chibs Got This

”Crucifixed” (season 5, episode 10)

RIP: Randall Hightower

Death by: Bullets

Reason: Having killed the sergeant who oversaw Opie’s death, Jax tracked down one of the inmates who’d delivered the fatal beating, Randall Hightower (Winston James Francis). He’d hired SAMCRO’s allies, the Grim Bastards, to protect him.

Result: The Bastards had no idea he’d been involved in Opie’s death, but their president, T.O. Cross (Michael Beach), didn’t want to hand him over either because Randall was his cousin. Bobby begged Jax to reach a compromise so SAMCRO wouldn’t ruin a 20-year relationship with the Bastards. Jax said they’d throw Randall a beating to get the names of the other men who’d attacked Opie but they’d let him live. Jax then gave his word to Randall that he wouldn’t kill him, and Randall offered what he remembered of the other guys’ names. Chibs told Jax, ”I got this,” and he killed Randall.

Reverberations: ”Who the hell are you?” T.O. asked Jax. Bobby looked horrified, too. Now Jax’s word was worth as much as Clay’s. Bobby said what Jax had done was wrong, and Jax said Bobby hadn’t seen the pleasure in Randall’s face when he caved in Opie’s skull. Later, Jax told Chibs things were going to get bloody, and he wasn’t sure Bobby would be up for it. Chibs said he’s always been there for Jax and always would be: ”I love you, kid. Understand.”

FX

The Nurse

”Crucifixed” (season 5, episode 10)

RIP: Pamela Toric

Death by: Stabbing

Reason: To get death row Son Otto (Kurt Sutter) to reverse his testimony that kept the RICO case over SAMCRO’s head and in business with the CIA-backed Galindo cartel, Tara volunteered at the prison’s infirmary. Tara brought in a bottle of his late wife’s perfume and put some on her wrist when Otto asked her to. He then masturbated and broke down in tears. Otto said he’d make RICO go away if Tara brought him his mother’s crucifix, which he’d given his wife. He just wanted to wear it for a few moments. Tara got it from Gemma.

Result: Otto asked for a minute alone to pray with the crucifix. He buzzed for a nurse (Karina Logue). When Tara re-entered the room, Otto told her, ”Sons live. Redwood bleeds,” and he brutally stabbed the nurse in the neck.

Reverberations: The Feds had to throw out Otto’s testimony, but it was only a matter of time until the authorities figured out that Tara was Jax Teller’s old lady and assumed she’d brought Otto that crucifix and instructed him to murder the nurse to kill RICO. Lee Toric (Donal Logue), the nurse’s brother and a former U.S. Marshal with anger issues, beat Otto and paid Tara a visit. In the final moment of the season, Roosevelt would arrest Tara as she was asking — and failing to get — Jax to sign a document granting custody of their boys to his recovering addict ex, Wendy (Drea de Matteo), if anything were to happen to them.

FX

Nero's Back

”To Thine Own Self” (season 5, episode 11)

RIP: Byz-Lats just watching TV

Death by: Bullets

Reason: Outside the grand opening of the new Diosa, the legit escort service SAMCRO was now partners in, Nero’s old crew, the Byz-Lats, showed up saying they needed better guns to keep other gangs off their turf. Jax said he had some old KG-9s and Glocks at the warehouse that he could sell them. Nero reluctantly agreed and a meet was arranged for later. SAMCRO was surrounded at the drop and shots were exchanged. Meanwhile, Clay had figured out that Romeo and Luis were CIA. He asked for protection in exchange for him keeping the Irish guns coming after Jax killed the RICO case and their leverage on him was gone. Romeo and Luis said they’d kill Jax and reinstate Clay as SAMCRO president if it came to that. Clay asked for time to get Jax to see the seriousness of the situation.

Result: Jax was later kidnapped, and Nero assumed it was the Byz-Lats and busted down a door to question them. He ended up shooting two.

Reverberations: It wasn’t the Byz-Lats who’d taken Jax, which meant Nero had returned to the life he’d spent a decade getting away from for nothing. (Gemma told him she loved him and asked him to hold on until she was done tricking Clay for Jax). It was Romeo and Luis, who reminded Jax how easy it’d be to make him disappear. Jax told them his exit strategy: The Mayans would mule the cocaine from Arizona and distribute it in Northern Cali. The Niners would push Pope’s weight into Reno. The Chinese would get the cartel comparable weapons from Gaza. The club voted unanimously to end the deal with the cartel. Juice found Clay’s legal documents in a ceiling vent at Clay’s house, but Clay moved them before Jax could show them to Bobby and Chibs.

FX

The Galindo-Irish Shootout

”Darthy” (season 5, episode 12)

RIP: (Roughly) Three guys who died because Galen’s a dick

Death by: Bullets

Reason: Jax arranged a meet to tell Galen (Timothy V. Murphy), one of the Irish Kings, that he’d found a way to end the arrangement with the cartel, who the racist Kings weren’t thrilled to be working with anyway. The cartel wanted this shipment and one more, Jax said. Remarkably, Galen agreed to it. But then the Galindo crew showed up because they’d heard from Pope that SAMCRO had voted to kick Clay out, and Clay was the only one Galen trusted. Insults were exchanged.

Result: Romeo told his men to put the guns in their truck. Galen said no. Galen shot a cartel member. Luis shot one of the Irish. Jax shot a cartel member to save Bobby. The Irish took the guns, and Romeo said SAMCRO was footing the bill.

Reverberations: The Irish kidnapped Jax’s ex Wendy and threatened to take his son Abel (again) if the club didn’t pay for the guns. Nero loaned Jax the money he’d been saving to buy a relative’s ranch, confirming he was back in the game for good. Clay had only escaped Mr. Mayhem because Bobby had told him he’d vote against the club executing Clay if Clay came clean about the home invasions, which he’d done. Clay went to Galen and said as a free agent, he’d like to inherit SAMCRO’s gun business instead of the Chinese. He asked to hitch a ride to Belfast to regroup there.

FX

The Death Sentence

J’ai Obtenu Cette” (season 5, episode 13)

RIP: Damon Pope

Death by: Bullets

Reason: When Jax delivered Tig to Pope outside a remote garage, Pope gave him a signed commitment to invest in the luxury housing development Charming Heights and to grant SAMCRO the maintenance contracts. Jax told Pope he should kill Tig inside because a couple of nearby hikers might hear them.

Result: Once Pope and his men moved Tig, Jax grabbed a gun from his bike and shot one of Pope’s men outside and two men inside. Tig knocked Pope to his knees and he dropped his gun. ”You know what happens to whoever kills me, right,” Pope told Jax. Jax was counting on it. Tig shot him. Only afterward did Tig realize the gun Jax had handed him was Clay’s. Clay had given it to Juice when he was packing for Belfast. Jax planted the gun and led Roosevelt to it.

Reverberations: Roosevelt asked Clay for his whereabouts, and Gemma lied and told the sheriff Clay had gone out for a few hours, took his gun, and told her he had to settle some accounts before he left town. Roosevelt got to arrest Clay, but not for the crime he wanted to (for the only one Clay didn’t actually commit). Marks was the heir to Pope’s throne. He told Jax he’d still need to kill Tig at some point, to make that right for his mentor. Then Marks put a bounty on Clay in jail. Jax told Bobby he’d kept his word and hadn’t killed Clay, but Bobby was disappointed because Jax could’ve been different than his predecessor. ”Maybe I’m not so different,” Jax told him. Bobby later cut off his vice president’s patch.

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Change in Leadership

”Sovereign” (season 5, episode 1)

RIP: Laroy and Darnell

Death by: Bullets, presumably; Bullets

Reason: Season 5 picked up three weeks after Tig (Kim Coates) killed the daughter of gangster Damon Pope (Harold Perrineau) upon hearing the lie that Clay (Ron Perlman) was shot by the Niners gang — as opposed to Opie (Ryan Hurst), who’d learned that Clay had killed his father. Pope had told the Niners not to respond because the police would look right at him. Plus, the Galindo cartel had phoned Pope asking him to sit down with new SAMCRO president Jax (Charlie Hunnam) to see if the club could make amends.

Result: Niner president Laroy (Tory Kittles) made his own call to hit a SAMCRO truck and lost a man in the process. Pope’s righthand guy, August Marks (Billy Brown), killed and chopped up Laroy offscreen, revealing his remains to his reluctant successor Darnell (BJ Britt). At a meet-up with SAMCRO, Darnell followed Marks’s order to kill Jax — but the gun Marks had given him was empty. Marks shot Darnell in the head in front of Jax and said Pope would be in touch.

Reverberations: Marks told Darnell’s even more reluctant replacement Tyler (Mo McRae) to tell the Niners the beef with the Sons was done. Jax already got the message meant for him: ”This is Pope lettin’ us know he’s the one who decides who lives and dies.”

*Click here to start from the beginning of SOA‘s death tally, here for a glimpse of season 2’s carnage, here to fast track to season 3, or here to remember who was lost in season 4.

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Eye for an Eye

”Sovereign” (season 5, episode 1)

RIP: Dawn Trager

Death by: Fire

Reason: Tig got a call saying an Oakland detective (Derek Anthony) had picked up his daughter Dawn (Rachel Miner) for a DUI, but since the cop was a brother-in-law of one of the Grim Bastards, SAMCRO’s ally, he wouldn’t charge her if Tig came to collect her himself.

Result: When Tig got to the location, he found Dawn alive in a pit with the bodies of Laroy and Darnell. Pope had Tig chained close enough to watch gasoline be poured on her — but far enough away that he could only wail powerlessly. Tig begged Pope to kill him instead. ”Know my pain, Mr. Trager,” Pope said. Then, he tossed in the cigar he’d been smoking to burn Dawn alive. Watching the flames engulf her was horrifying, but hearing her scream, ”Daddy!” for the last time earned this death a spot in our list of the most disturbing TV scenes ever.

Reverberations: See next slide.

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Father's Rage

”Sovereign” (season 5, episode 1)

RIP: Crooked detective; Cleaner

Death by: Strangulation; Bullets

Reason: Pope informed Tig that he and other members of SAMCRO had been identified in the killing of his daughter and the highway shootout initiated by the Niners. He said the detective would take him to County, and he threatened to kill Tig’s other daughter, Fawn, if he spoke of Dawn’s murder.

Result: After Pope and Marks left the scene, the detective called in his cleaner (Bryan Rasmussen). Tig strangled the detective with his chains and shot the cleaner in the pit.

Reverberations: Retired chief Unser (Dayton Callie) got word that warrants had been issued for Tig, Jax, and Chibs (Tommy Flanagan) after witnesses surfaced to ID them. The guys guessed that Pope wanted them in jail so they could be offed and it wouldn’t blow back on him. To buy them time until their Galindo cartel contacts could secure them protection inside, Gemma (Katey Sagal) took the guys to Diosa, the brothel run by her new lover Nero (Jimmy Smits), a former OG turned ”companionator.” Before Jax and the guys turned themselves in, he and Tara (Maggie Siff) got married there (”Hey, I’m all about the fairytale, baby”).

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Opie Got This

”Laying Pipe” (season 5, episode 3)

RIP: Opie

Death by: Beating

Reason: Opie had walked away from SAMCRO after shooting Clay, but Clay told him not to let his hatred for him keep him from being there for Jax now that it was their time at the head of the table. Clay also told him Jax and the guys were turning themselves in and hadn’t secured protection yet. Opie asked his estranged second wife Lyla (Winter Ave Zoli) to watch his kids while he went out of town for a while. He told her she hadn’t been just a distraction after his first wife’s murder, but he wasn’t sure if he loved anything anymore. When Sheriff Eli Roosevelt (Rockmond Dunbar) came to arrest Jax, Chibs, and Tig, Opie arrived and picked a fight with the cops to land himself in the paddywagon, too. ”He’s stayin’ close,” Gemma told Tara. (It’s okay if you’re crying already.)

Result: Pope arranged a sitdown with Jax in jail. Galindo had come through with protection, which told Pope that SAMCRO was too smart and too profitable to kill. His new proposal: He’d take 50 percent of the club’s cocaine-muling profits, Tig would stay in prison for the rest of his life and suffer, and one Son would die inside. Once that was done, the witnesses would recant. Only Opie was with Jax when a guard told him to pick the Son that would go to ”the box” and fight to his death. Jax told Opie he had no idea how to keep everyone alive — as well as the truth about Galindo’s Romeo (Danny Trejo) and Luis (Benito Martinez) being CIA, forcing him to keep Clay alive so the Irish would deal the cartel big guns, and holding the RICO case over the club. When it was time for Jax to pick the Son, Opie started another fight so the guards took him. ”I got this,” Opie told Jax, who wailed behind a glass window as he watched Opie meet his end at the hand of four inmates.

Reverberations: Jax told Pope that to get the club to sign off on the deal giving him 50 percent of their profits, he’d need Tig outside. Knowing Jax saved his life, Tig would always vote the way Jax told him to. Once Jax was done using Tig, he’d let Pope kill him. Pope was impressed: Finding the hidden advantage in unfortunate circumstances and using pain to take it to next level are things that turn players into kings, he said.

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Home Invasion

”Orca Shrugged” (season 5, episode 5)

RIP: Rita Roosevelt

Death by: Bullets

Reason: Unser would be the first to guess that a series of break-ins targeting those close to SAMCRO wasn’t the work of the Niners or Pope but that of Clay, who wanted to turn the citizens of Charming against Jax by making them think he couldn’t keep crime as low as Clay had. We’d later learn he promised three new nomad transfers to SAMCRO — Frankie Diamonds (Chuck Zito), Greg the Peg (Kurt Yaeger), and GoGo (Chris Browning) — a cut of his action once their home invasions got him back in the president’s chair.

Result: Clay and Gemma were at the police station confirming stolen goods found in the apartment of an East Dub crew member weren’t theirs when the gang members got in a fight with the cops, which was enough to send them to County. Eli’s seven-weeks pregnant wife, Rita (Merle Dandridge), had been at the station visiting her husband. Knowing the East Dubs were in Pope’s jurisdiction, Clay later sent his trio to break into her home and scare her. Only she fought back, scratching GoGo on the neck before she was shot in the stomach. She was pronounced dead in episode 6, ”Small World.”

Reverberations: Unser told Clay about Rita clawing back, so there could be DNA evidence. Eli ran Jax, Chibs, and Bobby (Mark Boone Junior) off the road and threatened to crush the club, which he blamed for whatever situation led to Rita’s death. Jax told Eli that Pope assured him he wasn’t behind the home invasions. Jax wanted to work with Eli to find out who was.

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Twisted Sister

”Small World” (season 5, episode 6)

RIP: Crazy Carla

Death by: Bullets

Reason: Carla (Wanda De Jesus), who worked with Nero at Diosa, had never warmed to Gemma. Her jealousy built until she broke into Gemma’s house and lead Gemma to her bedroom at gunpoint. When Nero arrived, she demanded that her ”sweet brother” get in bed with Gemma, who was ordered to service him. Nero refused and told Carla to shoot him.

Result: ”I’m sorry. I just wanted to go out watching you do your thing,” Carla told Nero. Then she shot herself in the head. Turns out, she was Nero?s half-sister, who helped him turn legit, and she was in love with him. Seeing him with Gemma stirred everything up, and she’d stopped taking her meds. Gemma had to call Clay to get rid of the body.

Reverberations: Clay was at Gemma’s home alone when Nero stopped by later to check on her. Clay asked if this thing between Nero and Gemma was going anywhere. Nero, who’d gotten away from the lifestyle that required body bags, said he honestly didn?t know.

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Jax Got This

”Small World” (season 5, episode 6)

RIP: Sergeant Macky and his unfortunate wife

Death by: Bullets; Beating

Reason: When Pope couldn’t provide intel on Jax’s home invasion problem, he had Marks give Jax the name and home address of the sergeant (Jack Conley) who helped orchestrate Opie?s death in jail. Jax, Chibs, Bobby, and Tig were expecting him to be alone, but his wife was also home.

Result: Tig and Bobby subdued her and Jax and Chibs chased after the sergeant, who’d bolted. Tig then shot the wife in the head. Jax told Tig to find a pipe, but he couldn’t. He returned with a glitter globe. ”I got this,” Jax said, looking at Chibs, who knew those were Opie’s last words. Jax wound up the globe, and he, Chibs, and Tig started circling the sergeant as ”It’s a Small World” played. Jax struck him with the globe hard on the back of the head. And he hit him another eight times, until Chibs finally stopped him.

Reverberations: We began to see Opie’s brutal death bring out a new violence in Jax.

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Two out of Three Ain't Bad

”Toad’s Wild Ride” (season 5, episode 7)

RIP: Greg the Peg and GoGo

Death by: Bullets

Reason: Greg the Peg told Clay that Frankie Diamonds and GoGo were talking about killing Unser, who, along with Jax, suspected they were responsible for the Clay-ordered home invasions. Clay told Greg to have them all meet at Unser’s Airstream: Clay would arrive first, make sure Unser’s weapons were out of reach, and they’d break in and kill him.

Result: Clay had clueless, uneasy Juice (Theo Rossi) serving as lookout when he went to see Unser. Juice called to tell him the nomads had arrived, and Clay asked Unser if his gun was loaded. When GoGo and Greg entered, Unser shot one and Clay the other. Clay insisted it wasn’t him planning the break-ins or he would have let them blow Unser’s head off. Unser agreed to keep Clay out of the mix when the cops came. ”Watch your back, Wayne, there’s still one of ’em out there,” Clay said. ”Yeah, I’m watchin’,” Unser answered.

Reverberations: We saw Frankie watching the cops at the crime scene, so he knew he was a wanted man. Hearing that Unser had spotted the scratches on GoGo’s neck, and that GoGo and Greg were dead, Jax paid Clay a visit: He said they’d find Frankie, get the truth, and take it to the table — then let SAMCRO decide who lives and who dies.

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Road Warrior

”Toad’s Wild Ride” (season 5, episode 7)

RIP: Charles Turner

Death by: Bullets

Reason: As Jax rode with Chibs, a van pulled up beside them and opened fire. Jax recovered from being thrown from his bike to return fire and hit one of the shooters multiple times. When Chibs pulled off the man’s mask, we saw the gunman was black. The other shooter got away.

Result: Jax was to meet Tara at the cabin, so they took the body there. In the next episode, ”Ablation,” Jax cut off the man’s hands — one would go to Unser to identify and the other to Pope. If Pope gave them a false name, it’d prove he was behind the home invasions as Clay kept insisting.

Reverberations: That same night, Tara had asked Gemma to watch the boys. Not wanting to miss the chance to spend time with her grandkids, Gemma drove them while she high on marijuana. She wrecked the car. Rather than tell Jax and Tara the truth, Gemma went along with Clay’s suggestion that she say a van driven by a black man had run her off the road as well. Unser and Pope both identified the fallen shooter as Charles Turner, a man with no ties to Pope. Pope gave the address of Turner’s accomplice, Ray (Antonio D. Charity)?

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Truth or Lies

”Ablation” (season 5, episode 8)

RIP: Ray

Death by: Bullets, followed by a fall

Reason: Jax tracked down Ray and chased him to a rooftop. Ray said he was just helping his brother-in-law, Charles Turner, who’d been hired by an old friend from Chino, Frankie Diamonds. Jax wanted to know why they’d gone after his family — Ray said they hadn’t.

Result: Jax told Ray to ”come here” and put his arm around him. Ray thought he’d live, but Jax shot him three times in the gut. Ray sat down on the ledge, died, and fell backwards. Later, Frankie Diamonds took Lyla and Nero hostage asking Jax for $200,000. The club was tapped, so Nero offered him cash and watches. Frankie shot Lyla in the leg and took Chibs hostage for his escape. He was supposed to kill Chibs, but he couldn’t do it. Instead, he pistol-whipped him on the side of the road.

Reverberations: Gemma admitted that she’d been driving the boys high after Jax had figured it out. Tara told her she’d never get near the kids again. The DNA under Rita’s nails was inconclusive. Roosevelt told Jax he wanted Frankie Diamonds and anyone else responsible for the death of Rita and their unborn child. In exchange, Roosevelt said he’d give Jax the rat at his table who’d helped the Feds build their RICO case in season 4. Jax then made Gemma an offer: The only way she’d get access to his family again is if she helped get proof that Clay was behind the home invasions. He told her to sleep with Clay again, make him feel like a king, and the dirty secrets would start to flow again just like they always did.

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Frankie Goes Boom

”Andare Pescare” (season 5, episode 9)

RIP: Frankie Diamonds

Death by: Bullets

Reason: Jax wanted to find Frankie first so he could keep him alive and get him to Eli; Clay wanted to find him and kill him before he had a chance to talk to the club. Clay had already bonded with Juice over shared secrets, so when he needed to split from the pack to scout out intel he’d received separately on Frankie’s whereabouts from Italian Leo Pirelli (Peter Onorati), he took Juice with him.

Result: Jax lied and told Leo that Frankie stole $500,000 instead of the $150,000 that Frankie had offered Leo to help him escape. Leo was happy to lead Jax to Frankie once Jax said Leo could keep the money. Hearing SAMCRO was on its way, Frankie shot and killed the man Pirelli had watching him. Clay and Juice showed up first, and Frankie told Juice the truth — the nomads had stolen Clay’s safe and given him back all his legal documents. Before Clay could kill him, Jax and Pirelli arrived. Seeing his man had been murdered, Pirelli shot Frankie.

Reverberations: Jax later met Eli and showed him Frankie’s dead body. Eli didn’t want to be responsible for another death, so he wasn’t going to name the rat. Jax had already deduced it was Juice. Rather than spook their alliances by having word get out that SAMCRO had a rat, Jax told Chibs and Bobby they shouldn’t take the news to the table now. Instead, in the next episode, ”Crucifixed,” Jax told Juice he could earn a pardon by doing everything he told him to, which, after hearing from Juice what Frankie said about Clay’s legal documents, involved finding those papers to prove Frankie’s story was true.

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Chibs Got This

”Crucifixed” (season 5, episode 10)

RIP: Randall Hightower

Death by: Bullets

Reason: Having killed the sergeant who oversaw Opie’s death, Jax tracked down one of the inmates who’d delivered the fatal beating, Randall Hightower (Winston James Francis). He’d hired SAMCRO’s allies, the Grim Bastards, to protect him.

Result: The Bastards had no idea he’d been involved in Opie’s death, but their president, T.O. Cross (Michael Beach), didn’t want to hand him over either because Randall was his cousin. Bobby begged Jax to reach a compromise so SAMCRO wouldn’t ruin a 20-year relationship with the Bastards. Jax said they’d throw Randall a beating to get the names of the other men who’d attacked Opie but they’d let him live. Jax then gave his word to Randall that he wouldn’t kill him, and Randall offered what he remembered of the other guys’ names. Chibs told Jax, ”I got this,” and he killed Randall.

Reverberations: ”Who the hell are you?” T.O. asked Jax. Bobby looked horrified, too. Now Jax’s word was worth as much as Clay’s. Bobby said what Jax had done was wrong, and Jax said Bobby hadn’t seen the pleasure in Randall’s face when he caved in Opie’s skull. Later, Jax told Chibs things were going to get bloody, and he wasn’t sure Bobby would be up for it. Chibs said he’s always been there for Jax and always would be: ”I love you, kid. Understand.”

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The Nurse

”Crucifixed” (season 5, episode 10)

RIP: Pamela Toric

Death by: Stabbing

Reason: To get death row Son Otto (Kurt Sutter) to reverse his testimony that kept the RICO case over SAMCRO’s head and in business with the CIA-backed Galindo cartel, Tara volunteered at the prison’s infirmary. Tara brought in a bottle of his late wife’s perfume and put some on her wrist when Otto asked her to. He then masturbated and broke down in tears. Otto said he’d make RICO go away if Tara brought him his mother’s crucifix, which he’d given his wife. He just wanted to wear it for a few moments. Tara got it from Gemma.

Result: Otto asked for a minute alone to pray with the crucifix. He buzzed for a nurse (Karina Logue). When Tara re-entered the room, Otto told her, ”Sons live. Redwood bleeds,” and he brutally stabbed the nurse in the neck.

Reverberations: The Feds had to throw out Otto’s testimony, but it was only a matter of time until the authorities figured out that Tara was Jax Teller’s old lady and assumed she’d brought Otto that crucifix and instructed him to murder the nurse to kill RICO. Lee Toric (Donal Logue), the nurse’s brother and a former U.S. Marshal with anger issues, beat Otto and paid Tara a visit. In the final moment of the season, Roosevelt would arrest Tara as she was asking — and failing to get — Jax to sign a document granting custody of their boys to his recovering addict ex, Wendy (Drea de Matteo), if anything were to happen to them.

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Nero's Back

”To Thine Own Self” (season 5, episode 11)

RIP: Byz-Lats just watching TV

Death by: Bullets

Reason: Outside the grand opening of the new Diosa, the legit escort service SAMCRO was now partners in, Nero’s old crew, the Byz-Lats, showed up saying they needed better guns to keep other gangs off their turf. Jax said he had some old KG-9s and Glocks at the warehouse that he could sell them. Nero reluctantly agreed and a meet was arranged for later. SAMCRO was surrounded at the drop and shots were exchanged. Meanwhile, Clay had figured out that Romeo and Luis were CIA. He asked for protection in exchange for him keeping the Irish guns coming after Jax killed the RICO case and their leverage on him was gone. Romeo and Luis said they’d kill Jax and reinstate Clay as SAMCRO president if it came to that. Clay asked for time to get Jax to see the seriousness of the situation.

Result: Jax was later kidnapped, and Nero assumed it was the Byz-Lats and busted down a door to question them. He ended up shooting two.

Reverberations: It wasn’t the Byz-Lats who’d taken Jax, which meant Nero had returned to the life he’d spent a decade getting away from for nothing. (Gemma told him she loved him and asked him to hold on until she was done tricking Clay for Jax). It was Romeo and Luis, who reminded Jax how easy it’d be to make him disappear. Jax told them his exit strategy: The Mayans would mule the cocaine from Arizona and distribute it in Northern Cali. The Niners would push Pope’s weight into Reno. The Chinese would get the cartel comparable weapons from Gaza. The club voted unanimously to end the deal with the cartel. Juice found Clay’s legal documents in a ceiling vent at Clay’s house, but Clay moved them before Jax could show them to Bobby and Chibs.

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The Galindo-Irish Shootout

”Darthy” (season 5, episode 12)

RIP: (Roughly) Three guys who died because Galen’s a dick

Death by: Bullets

Reason: Jax arranged a meet to tell Galen (Timothy V. Murphy), one of the Irish Kings, that he’d found a way to end the arrangement with the cartel, who the racist Kings weren’t thrilled to be working with anyway. The cartel wanted this shipment and one more, Jax said. Remarkably, Galen agreed to it. But then the Galindo crew showed up because they’d heard from Pope that SAMCRO had voted to kick Clay out, and Clay was the only one Galen trusted. Insults were exchanged.

Result: Romeo told his men to put the guns in their truck. Galen said no. Galen shot a cartel member. Luis shot one of the Irish. Jax shot a cartel member to save Bobby. The Irish took the guns, and Romeo said SAMCRO was footing the bill.

Reverberations: The Irish kidnapped Jax’s ex Wendy and threatened to take his son Abel (again) if the club didn’t pay for the guns. Nero loaned Jax the money he’d been saving to buy a relative’s ranch, confirming he was back in the game for good. Clay had only escaped Mr. Mayhem because Bobby had told him he’d vote against the club executing Clay if Clay came clean about the home invasions, which he’d done. Clay went to Galen and said as a free agent, he’d like to inherit SAMCRO’s gun business instead of the Chinese. He asked to hitch a ride to Belfast to regroup there.

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The Death Sentence

J’ai Obtenu Cette” (season 5, episode 13)

RIP: Damon Pope

Death by: Bullets

Reason: When Jax delivered Tig to Pope outside a remote garage, Pope gave him a signed commitment to invest in the luxury housing development Charming Heights and to grant SAMCRO the maintenance contracts. Jax told Pope he should kill Tig inside because a couple of nearby hikers might hear them.

Result: Once Pope and his men moved Tig, Jax grabbed a gun from his bike and shot one of Pope’s men outside and two men inside. Tig knocked Pope to his knees and he dropped his gun. ”You know what happens to whoever kills me, right,” Pope told Jax. Jax was counting on it. Tig shot him. Only afterward did Tig realize the gun Jax had handed him was Clay’s. Clay had given it to Juice when he was packing for Belfast. Jax planted the gun and led Roosevelt to it.

Reverberations: Roosevelt asked Clay for his whereabouts, and Gemma lied and told the sheriff Clay had gone out for a few hours, took his gun, and told her he had to settle some accounts before he left town. Roosevelt got to arrest Clay, but not for the crime he wanted to (for the only one Clay didn’t actually commit). Marks was the heir to Pope’s throne. He told Jax he’d still need to kill Tig at some point, to make that right for his mentor. Then Marks put a bounty on Clay in jail. Jax told Bobby he’d kept his word and hadn’t killed Clay, but Bobby was disappointed because Jax could’ve been different than his predecessor. ”Maybe I’m not so different,” Jax told him. Bobby later cut off his vice president’s patch.